


Campfire Stories for the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Special Vehicle Section 2

by qwerty



Category: Kidou Keisatsu Patlabor | Mobile Police Patlabor
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-12-20
Updated: 2010-12-20
Packaged: 2017-10-13 21:19:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,128
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/141825
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/qwerty/pseuds/qwerty
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The quiet days and nights between missions are long and tedious. Many stories are told to help while away the hours. The most frightening stories are the ones that could be true. Or are true, actually.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Campfire Stories for the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Special Vehicle Section 2

**Author's Note:**

  * For [fourthage](https://archiveofourown.org/users/fourthage/gifts).



> Late, but extremely necessary beta by mikeneko, who made it much, much better than it was.

**The dangers of the late shift**  
There was a man who worked in construction as a labor pilot. He was a hardworking and competent pilot who cared for the labors he worked with as well as he did his family, and in turn, the labors never let him down.

One night, he was working the late shift to finish up an urgent assignment when he heard a strange sound coming from a dark corner of the construction site. "Who's there?" he called, expecting it to be the night watchman or perhaps his partner coming back from his coffee break.

The only response was a groan and a clank of something heavy moving.

Greatly concerned that his partner might have met with an accident, he turned his labor around and marched towards the source of the sound. "Hello? What is it? Kamiya? Matsu?"

As he leaned forward in his seat to squint into the darkness beyond the reach of his headlights, there was a blinding flare of light all around him.

The next thing he knew, it was morning and his partner was opening his cockpit, urgently calling his name. While he was unconscious, some criminal had stolen vital parts from his labor!

\-----

"How horrible! The poor labor!" cries Noa, looking close to tears. "How could anyone do such a cruel thing? If anyone had done that to my Alphonse...!"

Asuma leans forward, the picture of earnest concern. "The man I heard this from also said that it was not the first time such a thing has happened. Apparently, there is a ring that specializes in stealing parts from vulnerable labors and reselling them on the black market to criminals who want to repair or adapt their labors. Usually, they go for basic labors with generic parts, but parts from top-of-the-line prototype labors, or even high-performance mass production models like the AVS-98 Ingram, can command incredible prices."

With every word, Noa turns paler and more wobbly, until Kanuka discreetly kicks the leg of Asuma's chair to shut him up. "There's a story much like this in America too," she says, and Noa turns red-rimmed eyes on her, all anxious attention. "However, in the American version, the victims are the humans, who wake up to find that their kidneys have been stolen."

Noa looks appropriately fascinated and soothed by the diversion of the threat from her beloved Alphonse. Unfortunately, as a direct result, Hiromi turns green. Several members of the rest of Division 2 also look uneasy, though Ohta may just be suffering indigestion from the yakisoba he had eaten too quickly earlier.

Kanuka sighs and continues, "Of course, this is just an urban legend, a story that has been distorted beyond recognition in the retelling. No one has ever actually had their kidneys stolen."

They don't have long to mull over the revelation before Captain Gotoh shuffles in with their new case: a Type-99 Road Runner on the way back to the station had met with an accident, and when they finally managed to reach it and bring it in, the mechanics had discovered several vital parts missing.

Kanuka sighs. Only in Division 2...

Asuma steeples his fingers and looks unsurprised by the news.

* * *

 **The old man and the sea**  
On a quiet, moonlit night, an officer on fishing duty found a distinctive Hello Kitty slipper hooked on the end of his fishing line.

One of the mechanics remembered seeing it on a trainee mechanic who had screwed up his first unsupervised assignment while Chief Sakaki was on leave, so badly that he had begged for a transfer immediately. The transfer only came through after Chief Sakaki returned, but the Chief had not shouted at him _even once_.

A week later, someone else found the matching slipper on her fishing line.

The unlucky mechanic had left in the middle of the night immediately after he got his transfer from the Chief, they remembered, and he was never seen again, nor could anyone contact him afterwards.

\-----

His is not the only mysterious disappearance.

Chief Sakaki has been in Division 2 longer than any of the other mechanics. No one has ever seen him actually throw someone into the sea, but the threat remains a real and terrifying idea in the minds of all.

The fish in the bay are always fat and tasty. And everyone lives in fear of finding something more than slippers on their fishing line.

* * *

 **The UFO that Ohta fired at and _hit_**  
It is a truth universally acknowledged that any given shot fired by Ohta outside of a training exercise will never find its target. Unless the target is something he really, really shouldn't have fired at. Such is life -- or at least, life in Division 2. Division 1 has never had any problems of this nature that anyone has ever heard of.

To be fair, there were extenuating circumstances. The hour was late. Division 2 were returning from a long, exhausting mission that had been hard on everybody, especially Ohta, whose Ingram had incurred some serious damage to its hydraulics and gyroscopes, throwing its balance askew. Chief Sakaki had taken a look at the damage and ordered Ohta to walk the labor around in the open to see how its movements were affected.

(There had been no threats to throw Ohta in the sea, though they were so close. That only made everybody even more nervous.)

At any rate, there had been a flare of light across the bay. Everyone turned and saw a vast silver object gliding slowly across the city at barely roof-height for the average skyscraper. More lights flashed, and Ohta, acting on instinct, drew his gun and fired.

How Ohta hit the silver object from so far away is a question for the ages, and also the incident report.

Shinshi turned pale and shook. "That was the anniversary parade for the... you... you shot... the blimp... My wife's been looking forward to watching this parade all year, you psycho!" he shrieked, and would have charged Ohta in the Ingram if Hiromi hadn't caught hold of him and dragged him away.

There didn't seem to be anything left to say. Everyone watched the blimp burning in the distance, as fireworks went off.

\-----

And that is why, when Ohta is not on active duty, his Ingram's firearm should always be safetied, preferably unloaded, ideally not on the Ingram at all.

* * *

 **The most frightening story**  
The one story that never fails to bring a shiver down the spines of its listeners, whispered on quiet nights in the Division 1 office: _Remember that time Divison 2 was assigned to back us up?_

There is no need to say more. Every member of Division 1 remembers a different time, but they are all just as scary.


End file.
